Gardener's checklist for winter

What to do in your garden in the winter

JANUARY

Observe water runoff during a heavy rain and correct any drainage issues.

Protect tender garden plants by covering them on frosty nights. Succulents, citrus, bougainvillea and fuchsias are among the frost-sensitive plants. Use stakes to keep material from touching foliage and remove the coverings when temperatures rise the next day.

Finish pruning dormant plants. Wait to prune back frost-damaged plants until warmer weather when you see whether they have recovered.

Cut back woody shrubs to stimulate new growth. To rejuvenate leggy shrubs, cut to the ground one-third of the oldest stems each year.

If needed, apply a final dormant oil spray to fruit trees.

Check plants for aphids as the weather warms. Remove infestations with a hard spray of water or insecticidal soap.

Continue to clean up old and dropped flowers from camellias and azaleas to reduce petal blight, a fungal disease. Do not add them to your compost pile.

Stay on top of weeds. Hand pull them or cut off at the soil line.

Order summer-blooming bulbs.

Repot cymbidium orchids if they are overfilling their pots.

Cut daffodils for indoor bouquets. Include other flowers in the same vase only after allowing daffodils to sit separately in water for at least six hours. This prevents the sticky sap that oozes out of daffodils from clogging the stems of other cut flowers.

Apply compost or a high-nitrogen organic fertilizer to trees, shrubs and perennials, especially those that were planted last fall.

Fertilize roses, citrus and other spring-flowering plants.

Fertilize azaleas, camellias and rhododendrons after they have bloomed.

Let the leaves remain in place on spent daffodils and other spring bulbs. Until the foliage dies, it provides nutrients to rebuild the bulb for next year.

Handpick snails and slugs after dark or apply a pet-friendly bait.

Be diligent about pulling weeds before they set seed. Apply one to three inches of mulch around plants and on bare areas of your garden to suppress weed germination and growth. Mulch also will retain soil moisture as winter rains subside.

If you planted a cover crop in fall, chop up the foliage into small pieces and turn under or add the clippings to your compost pile.

Apply compost or a high-nitrogen organic fertilizer to trees, shrubs and perennials, especially those that were planted last fall.

Fertilize roses, citrus and other spring-flowering plants.

Fertilize azaleas, camellias and rhododendrons after they have bloomed.

Let the leaves remain in place on spent daffodils and other spring bulbs. Until the foliage dies, it provides nutrients to rebuild the bulb for next year.

Handpick snails and slugs after dark or apply a pet-friendly bait.

Be diligent about pulling weeds before they set seed. Apply one to three inches of mulch around plants and on bare areas of your garden to suppress weed germination and growth. Mulch also will retain soil moisture as winter rains subside.

If you planted a cover crop in fall, chop up the foliage into small pieces and turn under or add the clippings to your compost pile.